Japan

In Japan, air conditioners are everywhere in people’s daily lives. 100% of subway lines are air-conditioned, as are 90% of apartment, often with one unit in every room. These practices are even encouraged by the government when temperatures rise above 31 degrees Celsius. A report from Tokyo with Ayana NISHIKAWA, Mélodie SFORZA and Adam Hancock.

Why are global investors so bearish on the yen? There are good reasons Japan’s currency should be gaining in value. Last month, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised interest rates to a 31-year high of 1 per cent and signalled it would continue increasing borrowing costs. Bond markets are currently pricing in a nearly 90 per cent probability of another increase by December. Nominal wages in Japan have risen by more than 3 per cent for four straight months, the longest streak since 1992. Moreover, the...

A 49-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly sewing together the lips of a woman she was living with, according to local police. Masae Sakurai, a part-time worker living in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of injuring the 42-year-old woman by sewing her lips together with a needle and thread at Sakurai’s house on June 29. The victim, who had been living with Sakurai since around April 2025, told the police that she “had been too scared to run...

In May, Japanese fisherman Tadasuke Nakamura noticed he had an abnormally large haul of bluefin tuna in his set net off the Pacific coast of Hakodate, on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido. Hundreds of the prized sushi fish crowded the net, but he had to let many of them go. Japan has an annual catch quota and if ‌Nakamura had kept the haul he would have had no quota left for the colder months when bluefin tuna are fattier, tastier and fetch a higher price. “It’s truly upsetting to have to...

Japanese and Chinese coast guard vessels confronted each other near the disputed Senkaku island chain, with both sides claiming they expelled the other. The incident comes amid rising tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.

Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi led a business delegation to New Delhi for the 16th India-Japan annual summit. During last year’s summit in Tokyo, Takaichi’s predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined the Japan-India Joint Vision for the next decade – during which period India may see up to 10 trillion yen (US$62 billion) in investment from Japan. Some of Japan’s most notable investments in India have been in the financial sector. Japanese...

A 20-year-old Indonesian woman was stabbed to death in her flat in Hamamatsu, central Japan, police said on Monday as they investigate whether a man who was fatally hit by a train nearby was involved in the case. The woman, identified as Keiko Altaira Hanafi, was found stabbed and in a critical condition by a police officer at around 11.40am in the flat where she lived with her parents. She was later confirmed dead at a hospital. According to the police, a neighbour made an emergency call after...

A provincial propaganda department has accused some Chinese football fans of using the Japanese team’s success at the World Cup to denigrate China’s squad, suggesting their behaviour had come close to crossing a line. In an online post on Friday, “Zhejiang Propaganda”, a social media account affiliated with the Zhejiang provincial publicity department, said that while Chinese fans could appreciate the skills of other teams, their support should have “boundaries”. “The current controversy shows...

Japan has partnered with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to support Kazakhstan’s efforts to address the decline in the Caspian Sea’s water level driven by climate change, pledging a 465 million yen (US$3 million) grant towards its sustainable use. Under the initiative for the world’s largest inland water body, Japan hopes to promote cooperation among littoral states on water resource management and enhance monitoring systems, according to the foreign ministry. The decline in the Caspian...

Following a surge in bear attacks in Japan, people are arming themselves with sprays while authorities have started installing cameras in mountainous areas in the north to monitor the animals. However, a recent effort to stay safe backfired, resulting in five people injured – not by bears but by the spray after it was accidentally discharged in a post office in Nagoya on Wednesday. Vietnamese national Huynh Nhat Duy, 22, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of obstruction of business for his...